The Radiation Belts!

The proton belt is located about 500 kilometers above Earth's surface and extends to 13,000 km. This Inner Belt contains protons with energies greater then 10 million volts. Scientists think that these protons are trapped cosmic ray particles from outside the solar system, or from the Sun itself possibly during severe solar flares. To the right is a computer model of what this belt looks like if you were to slice in like a watermelon.

The low-energy electron belt actually overlaps the volumes of space where the proton belt is located in the Inner Belt. The electrons carry between 1 - 5 million volts of energy, on average.   The high-energy electron belt is located further out than the two overlapping inner belts. Electrons in this Outer Belt carry between 10 to 100 million volts of energy, on average. Here is what the electron belts look like if you could slice them along a line of constant geographic longitude from north to south. Can you see where the Inner Electron Belt is Located? The Outer Electron Belt?

Continue to Part 3